


I'm Very Good at Reading people

by i_grace3



Series: Draco's Weekly Visit [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst?, Aurors, Azkaban, Post Cursed Child, but i thought theyd be a good one shot, draco's weekly visit, he gets a little protective, i origionally had these written as scenes for a play, im sorry, its quite heartwrenching in some of these, she grows on him a bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:07:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27731254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_grace3/pseuds/i_grace3
Summary: Draco's first visit to Delphi goes much better than expected. And he manages to get more out of his cousin in half an hour than anyone has in the last six months.
Series: Draco's Weekly Visit [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028475
Kudos: 6





	I'm Very Good at Reading people

Draco walked up the grey, stone stairs of Azkaban prison, following at the tail of an Auror in-front of him. He did not want to be there whatsoever but he knew he dad to. He wanted to make it work somehow, he had to give her some form of hope. Hermione had asked him to see if he could get something out of her anyway. She was trying to delve deeper into her case, see if there was something more than just what they knew. She didn’t think they had finished it despite closing the case almost six months ago. Hermione asked Draco to go and pay the girl a visit, after all, he was her cousin. As much as he desperately wanted to not go through with it, he found it very difficult to say no to her request. Despite his hatred towards the girl, he still found himself walking down the bleak corridor of Azkaban towards her cell. With each step he took, the more he thought to himself: Why? Why did I agree to this? I despise her, she hurt my son. I have a reason to hate her. Yet I’m still going to see her? For a chat?  
And soon enough, they stopped outside a cell. The Auror turned to him, “I don’t see why the Minister sent you here, there isn’t much point.” She said.  
“What do you mean?” He asked.  
“I’ve heard her say four words in the past sixth months. She just- sits there. She’s oblivious to anything around her, she doesn’t eat that much, doesn’t sleep.”  
“What where those three words?”  
“Yes, thanks and fuck off.”  
Draco looked at the Auror in slight shock. He would’ve thought she’d be gobbier, shouting the entire building down. But no, she was practically mute. “That’s surprising.”  
“Why’d you say that?”  
“Because the last time I saw her she was kicking, screaming and swearing with all her might.”  
“Ah…Well, should I leave you?”  
“If you could, thank you.”  
“Any problems give me a shout.” She nodded and walked away, leaving Draco outside Delphi’s cell. He took a seat on a stool that was sat outside. He simply watched her and waited for a few minutes. She was lying on her bunk, curled up, presumably asleep but she didn’t look it. She was just lying there with her eyes closed in an attempt to block out the outside world. She looked different to the last time he saw her. Her hair was no longer in a high, rather messy pony-tail and did not have the bright silver with the electric blue tips. It was down and more of a dirty blonde now, however some of the blue still remained but was faded and dull. Her fringe was still the same length however. She must either manage to keep it cut or it just doesn’t grow, like baby hairs. Her skin was paler and darker around her eyes and her cheeks were hollow. She was thinner. Much thinner. Worryingly thin at that. But she was calm this time. Her entire body was relaxed and she was still. Draco wasn’t sure if he was looking at the right person. However, he cleared his throat to try and get her attention. She didn’t move.  
“Delphini.” He said. She stirred a little. “Delphini.” He said again, a little firmer and he finally caught her attention. She opened her eyes, stared at him for a moment before turning over onto her other side away from him. Her eyes. That’s how he confirmed to himself that it was definitely her. They had the exact same eyes, the same steel grey colour. It sent a small chill down his spine. He could see himself in her. He didn’t want to and he hated that he could. He hated that he shared a part of him with the woman who permanently damaged his son’s mind. Scorpius was scarred by the events, scarred by a curse that doesn’t leave a physical mark. And Draco loathed that he shared the eyes of the person who hurt his son.  
He sat there, waiting for a word or for her to turn back over towards him, neither being a likely scenario. He tried to catch her attention again by saying her name, again. But there was no response. “Delphini, hello.” He said, losing hope now. But then a small voice replied to him.  
“My name is Delphi.” She mumbled, her voice dry.  
“Hello Delphi.” Draco corrected himself. And Delphi turned over, sat up and looked at him, her eyes fixed on him.  
“Do you not like-“  
“I despise it. Almost as much as you despise me.” Her voice turned harsh.  
“How can you tell what I feel about you? I haven’t seen you for six months.”  
“I’m very good at reading people.” She smirked a little, “And you Draco, as much as you don’t think so, are very easy to read.”  
Draco tried to form a reply, not actually knowing what to reply with. He brushed it off and instead asked “How come you’re talking now?”  
“I won’t speak to anyone who addresses me by anything except Delphi.” She paused. “And I also save my voice for special occasions.”  
“Does this class as a special occasion then?”  
“Very much so. You are my first visitor here.”  
“I’m not surprised.”  
“Neither am I. I’m not a likeable person. Especially considering my track record.” She stopped again, thinking, tilting her head ever so slightly. “Who sent you here Draco?”  
“How could you tell I was sent here?”  
“I’m very good at reading people, remember? You wouldn’t even consider coming to visit me without someone practically begging you to.”  
“They didn’t beg. They asked.”  
“Was ‘they’ the Minister of Magic by any chance?”  
Draco stopped. He needed to be more careful now. He would have to hide most of his emotions, push them down deep inside of him until he got out of her vicinity. He didn’t want her to figure out his weaknesses. She could very easily find a way to manipulate him using them, tease him, taunt him. He wouldn’t take any chances at it. So he pushed down his feelings until he was left with one thing he couldn’t bury down: his hatred for her. No, that was far to strong to be pushed down. However, he tried and tried and tried, shoving down as much of it as he possibly could but not getting very far. Despite his efforts, Delphi picked up on it.  
“You’re trying to hide your emotions from me, aren’t you?” She chuckled. “Well, I assure you, I will still pick up on any trace of them you haven’t quite managed to put away.”  
Draco pursed his lips, But Delphi didn’t care. “I understand why you’d want to hide them. I hide mine from anyone except for me. See, over the past fifteen years of my life, I’ve not only learned how to read people’s emotions, but also how to repress my own. The only person who knows even the first thing about me, is myself.”  
Draco laughed a little “I’m not sure that’s true, there’s a rather long file about you in the Ministry in a filing cabinet somewhere. Most of it being your record of your horrific actions.” He firmed his tone again.  
Delphi simply laughed at this, no remorse in it whatsoever. However, for al Draco knew from what she told him, she could just be holding it down deep within her cold heart. Maybe she did feel guilty. She probably felt as guilty as innocent she was. Which was none. But he couldn’t help but ask. He was curious as to if she may actually feel some.  
“You don’t know anything about me. Nothing.” She returned to an icy tone.  
“I’m sure I do.”  
“Alright then, what’s my favourite colour?”  
Draco didn’t have to think very hard at it to guess. “Black?”  
“Blue.”  
“That was my second guess.”  
“What music do I like?”  
“Specific band?”  
“Doesn’t matter.”  
Draco spent slightly longer thinking. He knew several muggle bands. But he didn’t think they’d be of her interest. But he took a longshot and asked “The Beatles?”  
“Bring me the Horizon. And My Chemical Romance.”  
“What genre would they be?”  
“Ever heard the term, emo?”  
“Can’t say I have sorry.”  
“I guess that’s not a bad thing.” She muttered under her breath. “But that proves my point. I’m quite the expert of keeping to myself. I had to growing up I guess.”  
“You keep everything to yourself? That’s not a good thing.”  
“Well, not really. But I’ve done it my whole life. It’s not that hard.”  
“Can I ask you a question?”  
“I’m all ears.”  
“Do you ever feel- guilt? About you know- everything that happened?”  
Delphi stared at him blankly, biting her lip before turning away. Draco had cracked her. He smirked slightly. “You may claim to be good at hiding yourself. But I do know how to crack someone open.” He said. Delphi’s eyes slowly turned glassy with tears, she was trying her best to hold them back from him. She really, really did not want to show her weakness to him. She really didn’t. But she mumbled a small “Yes.”  
“I thought you might.” Draco softened his voice a little.  
“It scared me. My own power scared me. When I killed that boy, it scared me, I was just in shock. I didn’t even know I had it in me. I didn’t mean- I really didn’t want to.” She paused, trying to still hold back her emotions but was not doing very well. “I just lost control. I had repressed everything or so long but it all just- took over me. It took control of me.”  
Draco knew that she was most definitely telling the truth. He just knew it. There was no doubt. She had been trying to hold it down for so long from him and he knew it would have come out at some point. Draco didn’t know what to say or even think at this point. He didn’t know what to do. All he could do is ask her a simple, “Are you alright?”  
She turned back to him, looking at him directly into his eyes. They no longer scared him. They didn’t have a cold glare anymore, he could finally see some softness in her. And this changed his thoughts on her. He didn’t know what he know thought but all he knew was he didn’t just feel hatred towards her. He almost felt worry, almost sympathy? But he knew he shouldn’t feel sympathy. Afterall, she tortured his son and threatened to kill both him and his best friend. But he wasn’t sure. He did know that he didn’t feel entirely hatred. He didn’t completely loath her existence anymore. Not entirely anyway. However, another half an hours conversation with her, face to face, one to one, could possibly be enough for her to grow a tiny bit on him. Not much, but enough to plant a seed for what he now hoped to be a slightly more- positive relationship. At least he had something to take away from here and back to Hermione Granger’s filing cabinet. That Delphi Diggory was very good at hiding her emotions until a point. And from there on, she was as easy to crack as a wine glass.  
Delphi didn’t respond to his question. He asked again. But she still did not respond. So he assumed it may be the right time to leave. He stood back up from the stool, looked back at her and said, “I need to go.”  
She nodded in reply, her eyes still glassy. But no longer frightened Draco. Not as much as they did anyway. “I’ll see you another time then, shall I?” He asked, Delphi nodding again in reply. And with that, he walked back down the hallway, meeting the Auror who lead him back down the stairs.  
“Did you get anything out of her?” she asked him.  
“Quite a lot actually. Like the fact she is a very good people reader, likes muggle emo music and her favourite colour is blue. Which was my second guess.”


End file.
